CELEBRATE JESUS, CELEBRATE LIFE! Making This an Easter like No Other: This Easter, Imagine No Malaria A Week-by-Week Guide to Imagine No Malaria Lenten Activity TABLE OF CONTENTS Overview.......................................................................................................... 2 Preparation ...................................................................................................... 3 Week-by-Week Guide ..................................................................................... 4 Appendix Additional Activity Ideas ................................................................... 10 Children’s Sermon ............................................................................ 11 Resource Order Form ....................................................................... 12 Bulletin Inserts .................................................................................. 13 Church-Wide Appeal Letter .............................................................. 19 Lenten Bible Study – Sunday School Lesson..................................... 20 Imagine No Malaria: Week-by-Week Guide for Lent 1 OVERVIEW Weekly Bulletin Inserts & Pulpit Announcements Share Imagine No Malaria Sunday School Lesson on Palm Sunday Use the “Invitation to Respond” speaking notes during the Easter ”Sunday to Save Lives” Imagine No Malaria: Week-by-Week Guide for Lent 2 PREPARATION The greatest success from an Imagine No Malaria Easter Sunday to Save Lives will be possible with on- going announcements and publicity leading up to Easter, and when the suggested speaking points are specifically followed. If your committee chooses to do so, additional youth, fasting, or devotional activities can be added to this plan (see appendix). Before Ash Wednesday Assemble your Imagine No Malaria team: 3-4 people to help organize your efforts Ask the Imagine No Malaria team for their support, and identify other key leaders to ask for support now (Sunday School leadership, youth or children ministry leaders) o Sample request: “How many lives do you think you can impact through this ministry? A gift of $10 will impact 1 life. A gift of $100 will impact 100 lives. Would you consider impacting the lives of 100 children with a gift of less than $1 a day? That is a pledge of $28 a month, for three years, for a total gift of $1,000. This sacrificial pledge will allow 100 children to live long lives!” Talk with the Church Council about the campaign and determine a financial goal for your church. We recommend a goal of $100 for each worship participant, on average. (Download a goal form from www.iaumc.org/imaginenomalaria) Set up an Imagine No Malaria display in a prominent location (easy how-to and printable graphics on our website at http://www.imaginenomalaria.org/resources/spread-the-word/ ) Order Imagine No Malaria donation envelopes from http://www.imaginenomalaria.org/resources/print-resources/ We recommend ordering one for each Sunday bulletin, or 125% of attendance. Invite youth to create a drama to be presented in a worship service on March 17 about the malaria crisis and how the church can respond. Imagine No Malaria: Week-by-Week Guide for Lent 3 ASH WEDNESDAY AND WEEK 1 Ash Wednesday, February 13 Invite members to participate in a daily devotional about Imagine No Malaria. A printable version is available at www.iaumc.org/imaginenomalaria by clicking on the “Resources, Downloads, Seasonal Materials” link. WEEK ONE: Sunday, February 17 Show video segment “Ministry Overview” from the Imagine No Malaria DVD to introduce the goals of Imagine No Malaria. Suggested activity: if youth or children have special activities planned throughout Lent, make this the focus of the Children’s Sermon and present the activities (see appendix for ideas). WEEK 2 & WEEK 3 WEEK TWO: Sunday, February 24 Include an Imagine No Malaria bulletin insert from the appendix. Show video segment “Malaria Ravages Poor” from the Imagine No Malaria DVD Share the following announcement from the pulpit: Malaria is caused by a parasite, spread by the bite of a mosquito that only bites at night. But did you know that in parts of Africa malaria is thought to be the cause of witchcraft, a curse from one’s ancestors, or from eating too much palm oil? There are languages that don’t even have a word for malaria! That is what makes the United Methodist Community Health Workers so important. Before a net is ever handed to a family, their community has a special assembly to learn about malaria. When our nets are distributed, we go house to house having one-on-one conversations with families about the cause, prevention, symptoms and treatment of malaria. We know this method can significantly increase proper net usage, which lowers the rates of malaria and can help us eliminate this disease across Africa. You can help. On Easter we will be having a special “Sunday to Save Lives” where everyone can join our effort to save lives through Imagine No Malaria. Imagine No Malaria: Week-by-Week Guide for Lent 4 WEEK THREE: Sunday, March 3 Include an Imagine No Malaria bulletin insert from the appendix. Show video segment “Elizabeth Clymer Testimonial” – can be downloaded from the conference website. Share the following announcement from the pulpit: The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) reports that malaria is both a cause and a result of poverty. In Africa, malaria causes a net loss of $12 billion every year because of the loss of productivity due to illness and death. Malaria accounts for 40 percent of all public health expenditures, 50 percent of all outpatient visits, and 30- 50 percent of inpatient admissions to a hospital or clinic. Malaria is beatable. We have already seen dramatic decreases of malaria infection in communities where bed nets are made available. For those who become infected life saving treatment is available. Remember that on Easter Sunday we will have a special offering as part of our Imagine No Malaria Lenten emphasis. Please be in prayer about how you can help with this important cause. WEEK 4 & WEEK 5 WEEK FOUR: Sunday, March 10 Include an Imagine No Malaria bulletin insert from the appendix. Show video “Congo Video Diary” from the Imagine No Malaria DVD Share the following announcement from the pulpit: On Christmas Eve 2009, a Methodist radio station went live in the Ivory Coast to share the gospel and to inform people about malaria. The United Methodist Church has seventeen communications centers across Africa that can be used to increase knowledge of this preventable and treatable disease. A bed net can help prevent malaria, but to stop this disease, we need to go beyond nets to include better access to treatment, and greater awareness of the disease through education and communication. Through this life saving information, our church is preventing deaths every day. You can join the fight against malaria by impacting 100 lives. With less than one dollar a day in three years, you can protect 100 children from this disease. Answer the challenge on Easter Sunday. WEEK FIVE: Sunday, March 17 Invite the youth to perform a skit about malaria and how the church can respond Share the following announcement from the pulpit: _____________ United Methodist Church has heard the buzzing inside of us to help stamp out malaria! On Easter Sunday, we will have a special Sunday to Save Lives where each of us can impact lives through the Imagine No Malaria ministry. Already, Imagine No Malaria: Week-by-Week Guide for Lent 5 The United Methodist Church is making a difference. Three million bed nets were distributed in Sierra Leone just last month, meaning every person in the country can sleep under a bed net. The United Methodist Church made that possible. Our church is saving lives in Africa. With the gift of $28 a month, less than one dollar a day, you can save 100 lives in three years. Answer the challenge with [NAME] United Methodist Church on Easter Sunday. WEEK 6: PALM SUNDAY, March 24 Sunday School Lesson Utilize the Sunday School lesson materials, or create your own presentation on malaria and how The United Methodist Church can help to eliminate malaria. Each class should conclude the lesson with a request for individuals to commit to impact 100 lives with a gift of $28 a month, pledged over three years. Hand out donation envelopes to every class member so they can prayerfully consider this Impact 100 pledge. Lesson plans for all age groups are available under “Resources” on www.ImagineNoMalaria.org or in this packet. Worship Include an Imagine No Malaria bulletin insert from the appendix. Personalizing the “Sunday to Save Lives – Church Wide Appeal Letter” from the appendix and mail it out to every member of the church. Show video segment from the DVD “Malaria is My Name” Share the following announcement from the pulpit: [NAME] UMC is helping to save lives through the Imagine No Malaria ministry. Plan now to be part of our special Sunday to Save Lives next Sunday and invite a friend or neighbor to join as well. Our church is joining with people from all over the world in an effort to end deaths from malaria by 2015. Our church goal for this effort is ____________. As we come together in prayer next week we will remember the tragedy of families in Africa who live in fear every day because to the constant threat of this preventable and treatable disease. Please prayerfully consider how you might help. Consider whether you can answer the Impact 100 challenge and pledge a gift of $28 a month over the next three years. Your gift can impact 100 lives – providing bed nets and resources to prevent illness and provide treatment to save the lives of children who are infected. Our brothers and sisters are in need, and it is up to us to answer the call.” Imagine No Malaria: Week-by-Week Guide for Lent 6 WEEK SEVEN: EASTER SUNDAY, April 24 – “Sunday to Save Lives” The focus of Easter Sunday must of course be the Celebration of Christ Resurrection and the Promise of eternal and abundant life in him. A secondary theme can be our opportunity, in Jesus’ name, to share from our abundance to meet the immediate need of people in Africa who are each day losing their lives to malaria.